This note is being sent to you as a liaison to an organization participating in the International Year of Statistics. Attached please find a sample press release your organization can use regarding World Population Day and the International Year of Statistics. Feel free to edit, translate, or otherwise use for your organization’s purposes.

PROMOTIONAL ITEM: PRESS RELEASE ANNOUNCING THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF STATISTICSAND YOUR ORGANIZATION’S CELEBRATION OF WORLD POPULATION DAYInstructions:Complete the press release with the prompted information, paste it to your organization’s news release letterhead (if available) or letterhead, and then email it to reporters at newspapers, magazines, web-based news services, television stations, and radio stations in your country or community.If you work at a college or university, also send the release to the student-run paper and/or radio station. Then, follow up with calls and emails to the reporters at these news outlets to ensure they have received the release and to answer any questions they may have.Also, post thepress release and the International Year of Statistics “participant” logo in a prominent location on the homepage of your organization’s public website, ideally so both itemsappears on the screen when the homepage first loads.NOTE: Replace all text in yellow-highlighted brackets with prompted information. Be sure to delete all the yellow-highlighted text (including the brackets) after you have added the prompted information and before you distribute the release to the media and post it to your organization’s website.For assistance or answers to your questions, contact ASA Public Relations Coordinator Jeff Myers at jeffrey@amstat.org or (703) 684-1221, Ext. 1865 (United States).

[Paste Text toYour Organization’s Press Release or Letterhead]

INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF STATISTICS PRAISES CONTRIBUTIONS OF STATISTICIANSTO ENUMERATING WORLD POPULATIONStatistics2013 participants join celebration of World Population Day

[INSERT YOUR CITY, COUNTRY,July[XX], 2013—In recognition of World Population Day 2013, the[Insert Your Organization Name] and the nearly2,100other organizations in 124 countriesparticipating in the International Year of Statistics (Statistics2013)are spotlighting the contributions of statisticians to quantify the world’s constantly growing population.Observed on July 11 each year, World Population Day is organized by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Each year a theme is selected to highlight a priority area of concern. The theme for this year is adolescent pregnancy, with UNFPA seeking to raise awareness of the issue in “the hopes of delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.”Statistics2013 is a worldwide initiative that is highlighting the contributions of the statistical sciences to finding solutions to global challenges, including the well-being of the world’s population.[Insert Your Organization Name]is a Statistics2013 participating organization.Statisticians in every country around the world contribute significantly to providing more, better and timely information about population-related issues and concerns to the appropriate national and in some cases international governmentagencies, like the United Nations (UN).In fact, thanks to a UN initiative titled the 2010 World Programme on Population and Housing Censuses, in the last eight years 202 countries have conducted a nationwide census and in the process have enumerated an estimated 90% of the world’s population.It is not a stretch to say that statisticians are vital to all forms of population research. Their contribution begins with theplanning,development and conductof national censusesand continues withthe compilation and analysis of the results. Government agencies and private research groups alike use the data from these censuses to determine growth and migration trends, understand the ageing of their residents, study the ongoing urbanization of our global society, identify and plan for emerging issues, and a range of other population-related concerns. These entities then develop plans and programs that enable governments and private groups to meet the needs of their citizens or constituency, respectively. “The valuable contributions of statistics and the world’s statisticians ensure that our countries—as individual states and as members of the United Nations—fully understand the dynamics driving our population,” says [Insert Your Organization Spokesperson’s First Name, Middle Initial, and Last Name]. “This critical knowledge is used by national governments and the United Nations to gain insight into the current and future needs of its citizenry and to develop and implement plans to address these growing and shifting needs.”In honor of World Population Day and the thousands of statisticians around the globe who are working tirelesslyto conduct national censuses and to monitor population trends and analyze related issues, the International Year of Statistics willfeatureon its website (www.statistics2013.org) several special itemsthat highlight theirimportant contributionsto world population initiatives. These itemswill be featured starting Thursday (July 11) and will remain on the website through the following weekend:• A Blog post,written by statisticians in the UN Statistics Division,about how aUNprogram is helping member states conduct censuses• A Statistician Job of the Week articlewritten by a statistician at the United Kingdom’s Office of National Statistics• A Statistic of the Day focused on this year’s theme for World Population Day• An insightfulQuote of the Dayrelated to the growth of the world’s inhabitants• A population-related article from Significance magazineThe goals of Statistics2013 are to increase public understanding of the power and impact of statistics on all aspects of society and to nurture statistics as a profession among high-school and college students. Participants include national and international professional societies, universities, schools, businesses, government agencies and research institutes. These groups are educating millions of people about the contributions of the statistical sciences through seminars, workshops and outreach to the media.The founding organizations of Statistics2013are theAmerican Statistical Association, Institute of Mathematical Statistics, International Biometric Society, International Statistical Institute(and the Bernoulli Society), and Royal Statistical Society.About [Insert Your Organization Name][Insert one or two sentence descriptive of your organization]. For additional information, please visit [Insert your organization’s web address]or call [Insert phone number].###For more information:[Insert media contact’s First Name, Middle Initial, Last Name]Office: [Insert contact’s phone number]E-mail: [Insert contact’s e-mail address]

Two major Statistics2013 events will be held in the next couple weeks. These events will help shape the future direction of statistical science.

The Unconference on the Future of Statistics

The first will be the Unconference on the Future of Statistics, which will be held this Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m. EST on Google Hangouts and simultaneously live-streamed on YouTube. Organized by two authors of the Simply Statistics blog, the Unconference will feature several innovative statistical thinkers discussing the future of statistics, focusing their remarks on issues that affect junior statisticians the most: education, new methods, software development, collaborations with natural sciences/social sciences, and the relationship between statistics and industry.

You can learn more and sign up for the Unconference here.

The Future of the Statistical Sciences Workshop

In two weeks, at the Royal Statistical Society’s offices in London, the International Year of Statistics-organized Future of the Statistical Sciences Workshop will be held November 11 and 12. The presentation sessions at this workshop will be viewable online thanks to Wiley Publishers.

To register, click here and then click on the “Register Here” box.

The Future of the Statistical Sciences Workshop is an invitation-only event that will bring together 100 invited participants from around the world—statisticians, scientists who collaborate with statisticians, science writers and representatives of funding agencies.

A major workshop outcome will be a paper—produced by a professional science writer—that will be targeted to worldwide funding agencies. To help the Statistics2013 Steering Committee prepare this paper and set the tone for the workshop, we invite you to submit a brief statement describing your perspective on the current and near-term future state of the statistical sciences with which you are most familiar. We will compile all submitted perspectives to develop a global view.

In response to the surging number of submissions in the days leading up to the original deadline, we have extended the submission deadline for the Statistics2013 Photo Contest to December 1.

To refresh your memory, this statistics-oriented photo competition is for secondary-school students (grades/years 7-12) around the world.

The theme for the contest is: “How statistics advances the wellbeing of people in your country or our global society”. Contest organizers are seeking high-quality photos that effectively illustrate the impact of statistics.

The Statistics2013 Photo Contest is organized by continents (excluding Antarctica) and will award cash prizes to the winner of the top photo and the winners on six continents.

The lucky contestant whose photo is selected as the top overall photo from among all images submitted will be awarded a prize of $800 (U.S. dollars)! Additionally, the top three place-winners on each continent will be awarded cash prizes (U.S. dollars) as follows:

* First: $350 * Second: $200 * Third: $150

The contest winners will be announced on or about December 16. Click here for contest criteria.

Please pass on the news about the Statistics2013 Photo Contest to teachers of students in grades/years 7-12 at secondary schools in your area. You can copy this promotional article and email it to the teachers and schools.

On Monday and Tuesday, November 11 and 12, at the Royal Statistical Society’s offices in London, the International Year of Statistics-organized Future of the Statistical Sciences Workshop will be held November 11 and 12. The presentation sessions at this workshop will be viewable online thanks to Wiley Publishers.

The Future of the Statistical Sciences Workshop is an invitation-only event that brings together 100 invited participants from around the world—statisticians, scientists who collaborate with statisticians, science writers and representatives of funding agencies.

A major workshop outcome will be a paper—produced by a professional science writer—that will be targeted to worldwide funding agencies. To help the Statistics2013 Steering Committee prepare this paper and set the tone for the workshop, we invite you to submit a brief statement describing your perspective on the current and near-term future state of the statistical sciences with which you are most familiar. We will compile all submitted perspectives to develop a global view.

Special announcement: Future of the Statistical Sciences Workshop – Recorded Sessions now online!

Thanks to Wiley, the videos from the live stream broadcast of the Future of the Statistical Sciences Workshop are now available here. Free registration with Statistics Views is required in order to be able to view the sessions so if you are not yet registered, please register here.

The Workshop, which gathered some of the top statisticians in the world, took place at the Royal Statistical Society's headquarters in London. The invitation-only event brought together statisticians, scientists from other fields who collaborate with statisticians, science writers and representatives of funding agencies.

Among the many speakers were Terry Speed of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Susan Murphy of the University of Michigan, Bernard Silverman, chief scientific advisor to the UK Home Office, Andrew Gelman of Columbia University and Steve Feinberg of Carnegie Mellon University. Presenters spoke on a variety of subjects from health, dietary, and environmental issues to the challenge of reproducibility to the portrayal of statistics in the media.

A major outcome of the workshop will be a paper—produced by a professional science writer—that will be targeted to worldwide funding agencies.

We invite and encourage you to share with us your organization's news and events. Doing so will help inform other participants in The World of Statistics about the activities and events your organization is conducting to promote statistical science to the public and promote creativity and development within our profession.

To submit information about your organization’s upcoming event for The World of Statistics 2014 Activities Calendar click here. We’ll use the information you provide to populate the calendar, which is a popular destination for people to learn about new events around the world.

To submit a story about an upcoming or recently completed meeting or event or a new program or activity click here. This information will be used as an article in the News from The World of Statistics e-newsletter, which is distributed every three weeks to the more than 2,360 participants in the movement.

Submit your items now. The deadline for sending us items for the next issue of the e-newsletter is Friday, March 21.

Special announcement to participating organizations in The World of Statistics

Statistics and Science: A Report of the London Workshop on the Future of the Statistical Sciences (http://bit.ly/londonreport) is the product of a high-level meeting in London last November attended by 100 prominent statisticians from around the world. This invitation-only summit was the capstone event of the International Year of Statistics, a year-long celebration during 2013 that drew as participants more than 2,300 organizations from 128 countries.

The report is written in an accessible style so people who are not experts in statistics can understand its messages and the field’s impact on society. It can be used as a resource by students interested in studying statistics at university, by policymakers who want to better understand the value statistics provides society and by the general public to learn more about the misunderstood field of statistical science.

Organizations participating in The World of Statistics are encouraged to make the workshop report broadly available and accessible in their country by doing the following:

Share the link to the report with your statistical and professional colleagues Share the report with government agencies and private entities that provide research funding in your country Share the report with the national statistical organization and other appropriate agencies in your country’s government Post a short note about the report with its link to your website Share the report and link with your membership or employees by including a story about it in a future issue of your organization’s official publication—magazine or newsletter—or via blast email Send a copy of the report or its link to the media in your country along with a brief explanation Send a copy to the statistics departments at universities in your country Share the report with statistics-related organizations in your country that are not participating in The World of Statistics

The next issue of the News from The World of Statistics e-newsletter will be published next week. We invite you to send us your organization’s news and information for inclusion in this issue. To do so, please use this convenient webform to submit your news or event summary and up to two photos. As a reminder, the e-newsletter is published every third week, so continue to send us your stories and we’ll include it in a future issue. We recommend you read past issues to get a sense of the stories your colleagues are sharing.

Also, remember to send us information about your organizations’ upcoming events scheduled for the remainder of 2014 or next year. We’ll post your event on the appropriate calendar so your colleagues—whether on the other side of the world or down the hall—learn about the event. Complete this easy-to-use webform to submit your event.